Recycle, eh

I don't know about you but I still get quite a few Christmas cards in the mail and enjoy receiving them even though e-cards are more eco-friendly. Besides, coming up with ideas to recycle them is one way of keeping the kids busy while you make your hoilday preparations. 

Better Homes and Gardens (BHG) has oodles of ideas and how-to projects for recycling holiday cards. These little card trees are similar to those over at Stone and Rose that I blogged about yesterday but a little easier to make.

And I simply love these little decorative houses made from cards. For complete instructions for these and other card recycling projects, visit BHG. For house templates, go here.

Gosh, it’s onlyys to Christmas! I’m away from home and haven’t been able to visit my recycling bin for project inspiration. So I went a’cruisin’ today and found a couple last minute Christmas decoration ideas you might enjoy.

Both ideas use stuff from the recycling bin. For example, here’s a nifty way to wrap up a Christmas tree container that I spotted at Ikea’s Livet Hemma site. All you need is a bit of newspaper and a recycled red ribbon.

And just look at these gorgeous paper Christmas trees made from the pages of old books. Before you get your knickers in a twist over using books for recycling projects, use only books that are musty and smelly, discoloured, waterlogged, missing pages, or otherwise no longer loved and read, and would end up in the landfill anyway. So having said that, you can find out how to make these Christmas trees, at Stone and Rose. 

Okay, it's official - Kraft paper (brown parcel wrap) and clothespins are this year's Advent calendar darlings. Here's another one using both I couldn't resist showing you. And the lovely Nina Holst of Stylizimo gives you instructions on how to make this very proper calendar. Last one, I promise - I think, hope ...

Remember to check around the house and the recycling bins to use what you've got already. Don't spend a cent until you've done that and then, if you have to do some shopping, buy locally, by handcrafted locally, and buy products that are environmental friendly. 

I know, I know. I just realized Dec. 1 is only a day away (can't get those Annie lyrics out of my head!!). So here are a couple of other neat Advent calendar ideas this time repurposing coat hangers and oh, yeah, branches.

This one is from Mari Eriksson over at Angel at my Table. She used an old wooden coat hanger using what appear to be small cup hooks to hold the Advent parcels. A bit finicky if you're like me and insist on immediate results but, hey, the kids will love this one.

This next one is from the folks at by Fryd Design and they used a wire coat hanger to tie on their cute little Advent bundles. Just wrap the coat hanger in some old tree tinsel and tie on.

So - you say you don't have a wooden or wire coat hanger to use? Well, a neat little tree branch is just the ticket. If you don't have trees of your own, ask a neighbour if you can cut one from their tree. They shouldn't mind, especially when you show them how you repurposed that branch. Cute little banners decorate the plain Jane parcels. This one comes from the blog englemor-hilde.

Not sure why, but I seem to be visiting a lot of Scandaniavian sites. They sure know how to celebrate Christmas!!

Christmas is just weeks away and I've been trolling the net to see what I can find to post in the way of unusual Advent calendars that are Christmassy but also environmentally friendly. I spotted these two similar ideas using clothespins and plain Jane brown paper wrap.

If you have any clothespins on hand, this Advent calendar would be quick and easy to make. Luckily, because I dry my clothes outside, I have a stash of clothespins I can use. The calendar should be very easy to put together but if you want instructions go to Silje Vaniljeis.  I like the idea that instead of using fancy Christmas gift wrap both use simple brown parcel wrap for each day of the calendar. So simple, economical and eco-friendly! The clothespins can be saved to reuse year after year!

I found the top photo here.

Someone asked me if there was other ways to use the little paper trees we made at my last workshop. Had to think for a little while but here's one that might work if made from a hardcover (or paperback) book. Turn it into a gift topper.

It's a great idea if the gift inside is a book!! For this one, I reused some Kraft wrapping paper from a box I received recently in the mail. Of course, I had to iron it a little to remove the wrinkles but it came up well. With the addition of a repurposed red ribbon, I made a gift anyone would love to receive. Thanks to my friend Sean, who inspired the paper wrapping!

You could also use the small paper trees as place holders at a festive meal. Top the tree with a star that has the guest's name written on it and at the end of the meal, let the guests take their tree home as a thoughtful gift. 

Or, remove one of the covers and then glue a printed menu to the cover you left on. Put one at each setting. By the way, you can keep the kiddies really quiet while entertaining guests during the holidays if you let them make up some of these. The trees are so simple to make almost any kid will be happy to fold away while the groups gab away. Slim junk mail brochures work best for this activity as too many pages may bore the little ones. Show an older sibling (or hire a sitter) how to make the trees and have them supervise the kids. 

To learn how to make these great little trees, why not register for my latest workshop at Bloom Artisan? It's being held on Thursday, November 26 from 6:30 to 8:30 pm. Cost is only $25.00 and you'll go home with a cute little tree and instructions for making even more.